The Asian Age
June 8, 2015
In a bid to strengthen its presence on the Sino-India border in Ladakh, the Indo-Tibetan Border police has sought deployment of additional 6,000 personnel along the Line of Actual Control in the sector that has witnessed a series of transgressions by the Chinese Army.
According to sources the force wants to enhance its reserves in the Ladakh sector, above Leh, as it has some of the most challenging frontiers to guard along the 1,597 km border which Jammu and Kashmir shares with the country’s eastern neighbour.
Sources said the ITBP, which mans the 3,488 km border with China stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, has moved the proposal for deployment of six battalions to plug gaps along the LAC. While the proposal is under the home ministry’s consideration, sources said, in-principle approval has been given to the force for raising eight additional battalions (about 8,000 personnel) to enable rest and recuperation of its men after working in harsh weather conditions on the icy frontier.
At present, the ITBP has about seven battalions in this region which effectively means about 6,000 armed personnel at any point of time. The approval, sources said, came after ITBP director-general Krishna Chaudhary led a team of his senior officials to make detailed presentations before the ministry of home affairs following which home minister Rajnath Singh gave his nod.
Officials said the force is also in the process of bolstering the number of its troops in each border post on this frontier as many of them are located at altitudes ranging between 9,000-18,500 feet amidst thin oxygen levels and a continuous threat of blizzards. Sources said the required approvals for having new infrastructure for fresh units at Leh-like barracks for jawans, armoury and administrative blocks for troops have also been granted.
“The force strength in Ladakh sector was required to be enhanced for the last few years as the border posts here are located in very far off and inhospitable areas and the inter-border post distance is large. More men will mean better border vigil,” they said adding that it was a fact that maximum confrontation with Chinese troops has taken place in this sector.
The force, which has dealt with a number of transgressions from the Chinese Army in the last few years, has also been accorded the green-signal for having 37 border out posts (BOPs) and about fifteen “staging camps” (temporary border patrol bases) which will come up in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim as part of government’s initiative to bolster its strength in border states.
